Integer Bamboo House: The World’s First Multi-Story Laminated Bamboo House

<a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/bamboo">Bamboo</a> has long been used in construction of homes, but this is the world's first home to be built from <a href="http://inhabitat.com/lumboo-dimensional-lumber-made-from-bamboo/">engineered bamboo products</a>. The Integer Bamboo House, designed and built by <a href="http://www.ovalpartnership.com/main.php?lang=eng" target="_blank">The Oval Partnership</a>, is located at the Expo INTEGER Site in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. Lightweight, durable and made completely from <a href="http://inhabitat.com/category/green-materials">eco-friendly, renewable materials</a>, the two-story home is an experiment in bamboo construction and was designed for the hilly terrain of the western part of China.

With a growth cycle of four years, bamboo is a quick growing material that can be grown almost anywhere making it one of the more natural and eco-friendly building materials, assuming it is harvested sustainably.

The Oval Partnership chose to explore this material in more detail and come up with betters solutions that can withstand earthquakes.

The entire house is built from bamboo including the furniture, doors, the structure, external and interior walls.

A bookcase made from bamboo panels.

The Kunming INTEGER Bamboo House is based on a rainscreen system and sandwich panels that provide a very high thermal insulation value.

The laminated bamboo technology has the potential an affordable and ecological way of building for the new townships and villages in China.

The Oval Partnership partnered with scientists and engineers from local academic institutions, including the Kunming University of Science and Technology for this project.

Although the project looks luxurious, the idea was to show what the material was capable of.

Bamboo growing in a forest.

Ground level floorplan.

Side section of the bamboo house.